This is a blog about my teaching, research and service with some occasional personal comments thrown in. These are my notes on a variety of topics. If you want to follow my blog posts on a specific topic, then see the Table of Contents in the right-hand column. While I try to work in the realm of facts, logic and moral absolutes, if there are any opinions expressed here, they are my own. -WilliamHartPhD
We shift now from the serious issues addressed in the previous blog post to practical issues of photographing people of different skin tones.
For some written advice read Photographing People of Color, if you are interested. But, here, let's watch a couple of videos with further instructions.
The camera can be used as a tool to promote racism and to terrorize a group of people as in the lynching photographs/postcards in the U.S. in the early part of the 1900s. The camera could also be used as a tool to catalog and control a group of people as with Polaroid's involvement in the creation of travel documents that black South Africans were required to carry as they traveled within their own country.
So, the above depends on how the photographer uses the camera, for good or for evil.
Bias in the Camera, itself
But, how about the camera itself? Could the camera itself be inherently racist? Racist by design?
How is that possible? What does that mean? What we are asking is: Is there bias in the design of the camera and related technologies, like film?
The following cases arose a few years back. One of the cases dealt with the facial detection feature of the CoolPix camera asking Asian people if they had blinked. The other case dealt with the webcam on an HP laptop not tracking the faces of African-Americans.
As a photographer, your task is to control light. You are a master of light.
When you turn that dial from "auto" to "manual", you are taking control of the light coming into your camera. Two key ways of controlling the amount of light coming into your camera are by setting the f-stop and the shutter speed.
Here now we have two options for coverage of f-stops, shutter speeds and ISO. Check out at least one of these.
Also, if you are curious and want to get a little more techie, you can optionally check out the following video. Note the exposure triangle.
EXIF Apps and the Exposure Triangle
There are apps that allow you to see the f-stop, shutter speed and ISO settings for your photographs. If you recall, the f-stop, shutter speed and ISO data and other data (e.g., date, time, GPS location) is what is called EXIF data. For android devices one EXIF viewer app is Simple Exif Viewer. For iOS devices an EXIF viewer app is Exif Viewer. A Google search will also show EXIF viewers for laptops and desktops.
Use one of the EXIF viewers and check the f-stop, shutter speed and ISO settings for your photographs. See if the settings or values make sense. For example, would an ISO setting/value of 800 for an indoor photo make sense? Why? Would a shutter speed of 1/2 second for a blurry sports photo make sense? Why?
Now let's take a look at how the camera works on the inside. Understanding how it works on the inside, helps with the understanding of how and why the settings do what they do.
Let's start with, how does a digital camera work? What are the steps in the process (a list of the steps)?
Along with this, what are the parts of the camera relevant to a discussion of how it works (a list of the parts)?
How DSLR Cameras Work
Let's take a look at the process again, in a slightly different way.
Let's take a look at this process from a different perspective. Let's look at it in slooooo....mooooootion
Let's continue our discussion about composition in moving photography.
First, note the techniques of getting a good hand-held video shot as laid out in the video below. The video below is about using a professional video camera, but the same techniques apply to you using your smart phone or tablet camera.
And now, on to some more advanced aspects of video composition.
Q: What is the rule of composition that cant' be used well in still photography
A: Movement
For some keen lessons on composing with movement let's go to the master, Akira Kurosawa, famed Japanese film director. Note the specific rules of movement discussed.
We've previously talked about photo criticism and photo composition, the artistic aspects of photography. We'll very soon move into the technical aspects of photography. However, before we take a look at the tech, let's take one last look at composition. This time will not look at it in still photography, but moving photography.
The "rules" of composition that you learn for still photography can also be used in your video work.
Note that when shooting video on your smart phone or tablet, the rules of composition still apply. And now that you are adding more time and movement to the shooting of a subject, you can do some interesting things with the still photography rules of composition.
Note the four rules of composition that can be used in video work which are discussed below.
After you learned about composition in still photography (rule of thirds, framing, etc.), did you start to spot those same rules being used in your favorite TV show or movie? If not, look for it the next time you are watching TV or a movie.
Just focus on the rule of thirds. How often do you see the rule of thirds? How is it used?
Now, you try it. Go to YouTube (or another video source) and look for clips of a favorite movie. See how many rules of composition you see being used. Besides the rule of thirds, what else do you see? Framing?
We've covered previously some basic rules of composition in photography. Now let's add a little more to that discussion of composition in still photography and then we'll move to composition in film.
Within still photography composition, other topic worthy of discussion is Itten's contrasts.
Composition in Film
After you learned about composition in still photography (rule of thirds, framing, etc.), did you start to spot those same rules being used in your favorite TV show or movie? If not, look for it the next time you are watching TV or a movie.
Just focus on the rule of thirds. How often do you see the rule of thirds? How is it used?
Now, you try it. Go to YouTube (or another video source) and look for clips of a favorite movie. See how many rules of composition you see being used. Besides the rule of thirds, what else do you see? Framing?
So, some rules of still photography can be applied in film.
What are some rules of composition unique to film?
Note the four rules of composition that can be used in video work which are discussed below.
And now, on to some more aspects of video composition.
Q: What is the rule of composition that cant' be used well in still photography?
A: Movement
For some keen lessons on composing with movement let's go to the master, Akira Kurosawa, famed Japanese film director. Note the specific rules of movement discussed.
We shift now from the serious issues addressed in the previous blog post to practical issues of photographing people of different skin tones.
For some written advice read Photographing People of Color, if you are interested. But, here, let's watch a couple of videos with further instructions.
The topics of race, gender and photography intersect in a variety of ways.
Photojournalism: A man's world?
(Washington Post video Nov. 2013)
Notice anything about the women discussed above? Now that brings us to race.
The camera can be used as a tool to promote racism and to terrorize a group of people as in the lynching photographs/postcards in the U.S. in the early part of the 1900s. The camera could also be used as a tool to catalog and control a group of people as with Polaroid's involvement in the creation of travel documents that black South Africans were required to carry as they traveled within their own country.
So, the above depends on how the photographer uses the camera, for good or for evil.
But, how about the camera itself? Could the camera itself be inherently racist? Racist by design?
How is that possible? What does that mean?
What we are asking is: Is there bias in the design of the camera and related technologies, like film?
The following cases arose a few years back. One of the cases dealt with the facial detection feature of the CoolPix camera asking Asian people if they had blinked. The other case dealt with the webcam on an HP laptop not tracking the faces of African-Americans.
Now that we've talked about things like, shutter speed and aperture settings, let's now ask ourselves what is shutter or an aperture and more importantly where is it? They are parts of a camera, but where are they in the camera and how do they work together to create your photographs?
Or another way to put this, how does a camera work?
Let's now take a look at how the camera works on the inside. Understanding how it works on the inside, helps with the understanding of how and why the settings do what they do.
Let's start with, how does a digital camera work? What are the steps in the process (a list of the steps)?
Along with this, what are the parts of the camera relevant to a discussion of how it works (a list of the parts)?
How DSLR Cameras Work
Let's take a look at the process again, in a slightly different way.
As a photographer, your task is to control light. You are a master of light.
When you turn that dial from "auto" to "manual", you are taking control of the light coming into your camera. Two key ways of controlling the amount of light coming into your camera are by setting the f-stop and the shutter speed.
Here now we have two options for coverage of f-stops, shutter speeds and ISO. Check out at least one of these.
Also, if you are curious and want to get a little more techie, you can optionally check out the following video. Note the exposure triangle.
EXIF Apps and the Exposure Triangle
There are apps that allow you to see the f-stop, shutter speed and ISO settings for your photographs. If you recall, the f-stop, shutter speed and ISO data and other data (e.g., date, time, GPS location) is what is called EXIF data. For android devices one EXIF viewer app is Simple Exif Viewer. For iOS devices an EXIF viewer app is Exif Viewer. A Google search will also show EXIF viewers for laptops and desktops.
Use one of the EXIF viewers and check the f-stop, shutter speed and ISO settings for your photographs. See if the settings or values make sense. For example, would an ISO setting/value of 800 for an indoor photo make sense? Why? Would a shutter speed of 1/2 second for a blurry sports photo make sense? Why?
So, advances in technology have brought us the digital camera. However, just because it is new tech, does that mean digital photography is better than film photography?
Compared to traditional film photography, what are the benefits of digital photography?
automatic feedback by seeing photo on LCD
digital photography allows for a smaller storage space and
digital photography allows for easy editing.
easily share images electronically, over the Internet
Let's continue our discussion about composition in moving photography.
First, note the techniques of getting a good hand-held video shot as laid out in the video below. The video below is about using a professional video camera, but the same techniques apply to you using your smart phone or tablet camera.
And now, on to some more advanced aspects of video composition.
Q: What is the rule of composition that cant' be used well in still photography
A: Movement
For some keen lessons on composing with movement let's go to the master, Akira Kurosawa, famed Japanese film director. Note the specific rules of movement discussed.
We've previously talked about photo criticism and photo composition, the artistic aspects of photography. We'll very soon move into the technical aspects of photography. However, before we take a look at the tech, let's take one last look at composition. This time will not look at it in still photography, but moving photography.
The "rules" of composition that you learn for still photography can also be used in your video work.
Note that when shooting video on your smart phone or tablet, the rules of composition still apply. And now that you are adding more time and movement to the shooting of a subject, you can do some interesting things with the still photography rules of composition.
Note the four rules of composition that can be used in video work which are discussed below.
After you learned about composition in still photography (rule of thirds, framing, etc.), did you start to spot those same rules being used in your favorite TV show or movie? If not, look for it the next time you are watching TV or a movie.
Just focus on the rule of thirds. How often do you see the rule of thirds? How is it used?
Now, you try it. Go to YouTube (or another video source) and look for clips of a favorite movie. See how many rules of composition you see being used. Besides the rule of thirds, what else do you see? Framing?
We shift now from the serious issues addressed in the previous blog post to practical issues of photographing people of different skin tones.
For some written advice read Photographing People of Color, if you are interested. But, here, let's watch a couple of videos with further instructions.
The topics of race, gender and photography intersect in a variety of ways.
Photojournalism: A man's world?
(Washington Post video Nov. 2013)
Notice anything about the women discussed above? Now that brings us to race.
The camera can be used as a tool to promote racism and to terrorize a group of people as in the lynching photographs/postcards in the U.S. in the early part of the 1900s. The camera could also be used as a tool to catalog and control a group of people as with Polaroid's involvement in the creation of travel documents that black South Africans were required to carry as they traveled within their own country.
So, the above depends on how the photographer uses the camera, for good or for evil.
But, how about the camera itself? Could the camera itself be inherently racist? Racist by design?
How is that possible? What does that mean?
What we are asking is: Is there bias in the design of the camera and related technologies, like film?
The following cases arose a few years back. One of the cases dealt with the facial detection feature of the CoolPix camera asking Asian people if they had blinked. The other case dealt with the webcam on an HP laptop not tracking the faces of African-Americans.
